George Knighton

Does anybody use the banking service called T-Mobile Money?

I'm after references as well as wanting to make people generally aware that it's 4.0% APY on a regular demand account, as long as you are a T-Mobile customer with one of the T-Mobile One, T-Mobile One Plus, or T-Mobile One Plus Promo plans.

That's a pretty good rate for a regular everyday demand account...but I'd feel better if I heard from somebody who was already using it!

AZuser

Thought about it, but 4% is only on balances up to $3,000. Too lazy to bother with that limit.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

It's 4% up to $3000 balance.
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George Knighton

And 1% after that.

That seems a lot better over all than the 0.00% APY you'll usually get on a demand account.

I must be missing something, but I don't know what it is.

It's a demand account. You're not going to keep a large amount of money in your checking account, are you?

AZuser

PNC Bank is 2.35%
Robinhood will be 3%
CIT Bank is 2.25%

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/

George Knighton

The T-Mobile account is a demand/bill pay account. That's why it seems good to me.

Anachostic

I'm willing to give this a try. I have all my savings money with Ally and my checking at a local credit union. My CU has a $1500 min to get access to a larger ATM network, so that ties up a chunk of $$ in a no-interest account.

It looks like they're hoping to cover their costs with transaction fees, which would explain the choice of checking vs savings. It's a risky move, but T-Mobile seems to have little issue with risk-taking.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

AZuser

I see. So what you want is a higher yielding checking account to pay your bills.

Keep $3,000 in T-Mobile Money account, schedule automatic monthly $200 deposits (required) into T-Mobile Money account, and schedule monthly automatic withdrawals from T-Mobile Money account for $200 + $10 monthly interest earned to an account that earns more than the 1% T-Mobile Money would pay for balances over $3,000

Not a bad idea.

thoiboi

Hmm...

George Knighton

By George, I think he's got it. :-)

Anachostic

Well, as far as first impressions go, I'm not exactly happy. I set up a linked account and transferred $200 in. Their site shows the transfer completed yesterday, but my available balance still shows as $0.

I've sent a message asking WTF. You'd think banking portals would be pretty standardized by now.

Anachostic

I clicked around and found that inbound transfers have a 3-5 business day hold. My "posted balance" is $200. My available balance will be $0 for another 3-5 days, so sometime next week. Kinda lame, but I suppose once I have the account filled up, the small transfers won't matter so much.

George Knighton

I was surprised how long it took for me to do exactly what you did.

Like you, I transferred an initial $200 to test how long it took.

It showed up on the fifth business day.

After I knew that it would really work, I became less paranoid and went ahead with other transfers. :-)

Anachostic

I don't know what to think about this bank. When I closed my B&M bank account, I got a cashiers check for the balance. I used TMo's mobile app to deposit the check. An hour or so later, I got an email saying it was rejected. So I tried again. TMo said the check was accepted and credited me $200 with the balance being available after the check clears.

The next day I get a message saying the check is on hold because my bank says it might not be paid. I'm freaking out a little bit now. They're going to hold the check for 7 business days, so all I can do is wait it out. If it fails, I don't know what I'll do, because TMo makes you endorse the back of the check with "For mobile deposit only".

10 days later, it's all fine. They cleared the check and the funds are in my account. But... they cleared the whole check amount. The $200 advance on the deposit is also in my account, so I've gained $200 extra. I assume this will get resolved at some point, but guys, this is a really poor first impression.

George Knighton

They're definitely a very small time operation.

Two weeks ago they changed the name on my account.



But part of the reward for using such a small operation is that they really pay attention to you. It's basically settled down, now, but in the beginning I was messaging them and phoning them, and they were always very helpful and in one case took a suggestion to change how they were doing something.

But...they really make even my small regional bank look like a big deal.